"Showing Its Flag": The United States, The Philippines, and the Vietnam War

The Americanization of the Vietnam War began following the disintegration of the French colonial empire in Indochina at the Geneva Conference of 1954. The subsequent increased advisory and military role of America in aid of the new Republic of Vietnam was done primarily in a unilateral fashion. The United States soon deemed a multinational face to the conflict necessary to winning the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese population, and thirty-nine separate international governments were recruited to participate as allies. One of these countries was the Republic of the Philippines, whose main contribution was PHILCAG, or the Philippine Civic Action Group. Obtaining this support was difficult, as the divisions created by the war were not solely centered in United States politics and public opinion, and the position of the Philippines in the war would go on to divide that country as well. The following attempts to analyze the political implications for a Filipino presence in Vietnam from both American and Philippine perspectives as well as to look at some of those Filipinos working for the survival of the Republic of Vietnam